In this AU, Sasuke wasn't able run away to Orochimaru. Kakashi was able to show up and restrain Sasuke, and they got Sasuke some training. While he was getting his training from Kakashi, Naruto left with Jiraiya, and Sakura got trained by Tsunada, as they knew Sasuke was still liable to be an idiot and that Orochimaru wouldn't let his ideal body go so easily. Sakura, managing to show remarkable smarts and initiative, didn't require Sasuke actually running away to realize that the poor boy is bonkers and not the ideal mate she thought he was. (This way, she gets over him herself. She does still care about him, though.) The trio is now fifteen.
Kameko had heard a lot about another village from the other nin. Jounin heard about it for missions, and they talked, and their genin students heard, and genin talked to each other, and thus information was passed around, facts distorted and speculations made.
It had only been yesterday that they where training, straining to fight an every-man-for-himself battle. Her team was fighting with a few other teams and various bushin of their teachers with a few actual teachers thrown in to make it interesting -- for the other teachers, undoubtedly, as it simply became terrifying from the student's perspective. One could never tell when they stabbed a teacher if the body was going to puff into nothing or if the kunai would be caught, the student flipped into the air, and kicked into the ground.
Several genin complained of their sadistic teachers, but the words had no conviction. The jounin teaching them were kittens compared to their leader, and his pack of underlings. Orochimaru was a very scary figure, and when ghost-rage over took the genin, most decided that Orochimaru was really a youkai in disguise, which was only reinforced by his elusive nature, and sheer intimidation.
Kameko was unnaturally fond of the folklore stories, no matter how they scared her. The other genin often disguised themselves as the various youkai to entertain themselves when there where especially bored. Her teammate, Kanaye, was especially bad about doing this, though it only increase her ire towards him.
"Hey, Kame," he said between gasps when the fighting had paused. "You're holding us back!"
"Ho --" she gasped out, far more out of breath than he. She puffed heavily for a few more minutes before gasping in a deep breath. "Hold you back?" she echoed, glaring. "That was a free-for-all! We weren't working as a team!"
"We weren't?" Natsu asked, his (her?) eyebrow arched with a bemused air. "I thought we were."
"That's because we were!" Kanaye shouted, waving his arms childishly. "But Kame was too dull to notice that!"
"Now, wait a moment!" Kameko shouted, staggering forward. "I almost got hit by one of your kunai!"
"I was aiming for the idiot behind you!"
"You were not! I had to nearly break a leg to dodge the damned thing!"
"Watch your language!" Tanaka yelled, seeming to suddenly appear next to then, and cuffing Kameko so hard the girl fell forward. "Children, children, children!" she sighed, shaking her head. "Honestly, you were both wrong."
"Both?" Kanaye demanded, scowling. "But if it wasn't a free-for-all, and it wasn't a team fight, what was it?"
"If you don't know, I'm not saying," Tanaka snorted, folding her arms. "A nin should be able to asses the situation for themselves and react accordingly. Kameko!"
"Yes, Tanaka-sensei?" she answered reluctantly, eyes still dizzy and her head pounding.
"You're not decisive enough!" the woman snapped, glaring darkly. "You managed to remain alive this long, but defense is not everything! You must take action -- a ninja that does nothing but survive might as well not be a ninja."
"Yes, Tanaka-sensei," she sighed.
"Kanaye?" their teacher drawled, glowering. The boy made a rather angry face before he muttered something acknowledging. "Kanaye, you're being too reckless! That might be fine if you're trying to be a suicide ANBU, but you have to live that long first! While I agree that you should keep a weary eye on combatants that haven't attacked you yet, do not attack them! It isn't wise to turn prospective allies into enemies!"
"Yes, sensei," he growled, turning rebelliously away. It earned him a hard punch to the back of his head which made the boy yell in surprise and pain.
"And Natsu," Tanaka snarled, turning to the third of their team.
"Yes, Tanaka-sensei?" she (he?) asked, blinking at her.
"Natsu ... Good job! You made me proud!" the woman exclaimed, ruffling Natsu's chin-length hair so that it stood up and crackled with static from Tanaka's gloves.
"Th-thank you, sensei," Natsu stuttered, shying away and trying to smooth his hair back down.
"Alright!" Tanaka cried as she turned away from the three. "Team Tanaka ready!"
The other teams weren't, though, and Kanaye took his moments when he could.
"Kame," he said, narrowing his eyes as he turned toward her. "You know about that hidden village that everyone was talking about, right?"
Kameko scowled. "Yes, unlike you I actually talk to more than two people, who are, hmm, wonders! Me and Natsu!"
"Ch, I hardly think that a turtle counts for anything," he growled, taking a threatening step forward. She would have stepped back if she wasn't so angry. "And I talk to higher-up people than you! So that counts for more."
"You're weird," she accused. "You hang out with those weirdoes!"
"You're a weirdo!" he countered. "A weirdo and a coward who gets lost! I bet you can't find that other nin village!"
"I could to!" she said, but spared a glance toward Natsu. She was standing silently, a disapproving frown on her face. Kameko barged on regardless. "I could before you!"
"Oh yeah, wanna bet?" Kanaye asked, his snarl melting into a smirk.
"Um ... I ... erm," Kameko murmured uncertainly, frowning. Bet? Bet what? What did she have?
"You chicken?" Kanaye demanded, his smirk widening. "Come on, you can pay me with your next mission's pay. Unless, of course, you know you're going to lose. You get lost in Sound! How could you even possibly find a village in Fire Country?"
"I could!" she stubbornly repeated. "I could, and before you! I'll take your bet! And win, too!"
Ninja were not suppose to leave their village without permission, but it was so easy to do so when the higher-ups were busy, and the guards couldn't care less about a child, and those words had her sneaking by the guards the next day, since it was the day that Tanaka had given them off. Both men took notice of her, then dismissed her, unconcerned. She was a child, and not a promising one at that. They hardly cared if she got herself killed. It would simply have one of the unpaired children taking her place in her group, and freeing another jounin from one-on-one teaching to do his or her duties. It was the same for every genin that showed as little skill as she did.
The Sound had no use for babying incompetent nin. If they lived to reach sixteen, then they were turned into canon fodder.
Poor Natsu was flanked by average nin. As soon as an opening appeared in a more competent team, Natsu would probably be moved to a team with people on her level.
Kameko trotted uneasily into the forest, glancing about for Kanaye. Wasn't he supposed to be here, somewhere? She knew she was a little late, but she'd gotten distracted looking for food this morning, and Kanaye couldn't serious expect her not to eat, right? She always got really grouchy and that tended to be bad since she either got in fights that left her bruised in body and ego, or she used all her possible skills to avoid doing anything, thus wasting the entire day of training for her teammates.
"Kanaye?" she called as quietly as she could. "Damn it, where are you?"
Something white and fluttering fell at her.
Kameko let lose a shriek worthy of a murdered woman, waving her arms. "Scarf-monster!" she cried, stumbling back and wrapping her arms around her head. "I don't wanna die!"
Five minutes later, when the white fluttery thing had neither touched her, nor had she died, Kameko cautiously peeked.
A small slip of paper with writing on it was sitting at her feet.
"What?" she said, frowning, trying vainly to ignore her embarrassment and how red her face was turning. She picked it up and scanned the painfully concise writing.
You're late. I went ahead without you.
That money is mine!
- The Grand Master Kanaye
"Kanaye!" Kameko exclaimed, scowling. "You -- you weirdo! Damn you!" She tucked the note into her pocket and started running in a direction she thought he might have taken. "Cheater!" she hissed unhappily. She should have known!
When midday came, and she hadn't seen or felt hide nor hair of Kanaye, she began to get worried. Granted, she wasn't really on the same level as Kanaye, so it wasn't completely unlikely that he could easily lose her in the forest, but he didn't know where the village in Fire county was. Surely he realized that they could work it out better together instead of splitting up right outside of Otogakure?
Kameko huffed a sigh and stopped, idly rubbing her stomach, which was warning her that it would soon be giving her pangs of hunger. "Where would I be, if I were a nin village?" she asked, frowning up at the trees, squinting against the sun. "Well, where no one would find me. Hidden village, and all that. In a valley, maybe?"
She glanced about for a suitable tree and quickly shimmied up it. It wasn't that she couldn't use her chakra to stick to it, it was simply that she couldn't do it well, often slipping and pulling bark off when she attempted it. She got as high as she figured the tree could support her, and glanced around, searching for mountains or depressions. Off in the distance, there appeared to be some sort of mountains. "Ah, those are far away," she noticed, frowning. "Far enough away to be in another county?"
She glanced back over her shoulder toward the area she knew Otogakure was. It was some distance, due to hours of running, but it was still closer. For a moment, she considered using the trees, but for all her inexplicably good balance -- that she often downplayed by pretending to be klutzy enough to trip over her own feet -- traveling through the limbs meant jumping, and jumping would tire her out far faster than simply running the ground would. She climbed down from the tree and began jogging toward the mountains. "I'd better hurry. I don't want to end up a missing nin."
If she were lucky, they wouldn't be too upset with her leaving. It wasn't like she knew any secrets that other villages could buy.
By dusk, she was exhausted.
She halted her journey and instead searched about for a suitable tree. She finally found one with large impressions at it's roots and plenty of fallen leaves nearby. Using them for bedding and covers, she settled down to sleep.
--To be Continued --